Curry-Crazy Brits Blow More Than £30,000 On Indian Food
Curry-crazy Brits will blow more than £30,000 on Indian grub
in their lives, the Curry Club can reveal.
The average Brit will splash out £20 a month cooking Indian
food at home, according to new research. They will also fork out £31.44 eating
the spicy dishes in restaurants over the same period, according to The 2013
Cobra Good Curry Guide. This means that over a 50-year period we will each
spend £30,864 on curries. And, despite the recession, the guide claims curry
houses are thriving as the UK refuses to give up its favourite food.
The UK's 9,000 curry restaurants attract 2.5 million
customers a week, according to Curry Club statistics. And the curry sector is
worth about £777 million each year, despite a fall of 20 per cent since the
economic downturn began. Pat Chapman,
author of the Guide is confident the industry will ride out the current
recession.
He added: "There is doom and gloom being talked about
all restaurants incuding ‘Indian’.
They're being hit by the recession like everyone else. But in the long
run it will be good for the sector. We will see weaker restaurants go to the
wall. But those that offer good food, good service and good value will
survive."
There are close on 9,000 Indian Restaurants and Balti Houses
restaurants in the British Isles. But
which are the top ones in London, and in every county in England, Scotland and
Wales?
Now available the completely new Cobra Good Curry Guide, the
11th edition, identifies the nation's favourite food at 1,000 favourite venues.
The Guide was established in 1983 and is in its 30th year. Cobra have been its
exclusive sponsor continuously since 1992. It is the only in-print national
critical guide and is regarded by media and the restaurants alike as the
definitive work of its kind.
The internet provides copious restaurant information, but
its informants and critics are largely anonymous and therefore the reliability
of their reports lack credibility. The Guide's strap line is "Britain's
Top Restaurants as chosen by you", and the information is compiled with
the help of hundreds of members of the public, all of whom are listed in full
and many of whom have been reliably reporting for years.
The A5 size paperback has 384 full colour pages, enhanced
with dozens of colour pictures of restaurants and their food. Each restaurant
entry contains details on food style, quality, price, service, vegetarian
availability, BYO, takeaway info, home delivery service and more. New features
include website details and postcodes to assist navigation.
Amongst the 1,000 entries are two further distinctions, the
A-List which identifies those restaurants which are well above average and Top
100 List which is a second tier of high achievers. The Guide's introduction
continues the tradition of carrying fact and fun features including a 30 year
look-back on the Curry Club's history, the Currination, a light-hearted look
back on our nation's currinary activities since the last edition, a Cobra
recipe section and a survey of unusual pickles. The Guide's definitive menu
glossary has been updated to reflect increasing regional and more sophisticated
curry offerings. Also featured is an
alphabetical town index and county maps.
The latest edition of the guide reveals West Yorkshire is
the strongest performing area outside London with 14 entries in the top 100.
And other well-known curry capitals, such as Birmingham and Manchester, also
feature strongly in the list. Mr Chapman added: "These areas are
traditional strongholds. But, as the book shows, there is an even spread of
quality restaurants across the country. It's my job to whittle identify
them."
This year the top curry award has gone to the Painted Heron
in Chelsea. The capital does well in curry charts but other areas of the
country have won rave reviews for their restaurants. Moksh in Cardiff, and
Massala in Cobham, Surrey and The Ambrette in Margate, Kent and Rye, East
Sussex are cited the best in their respective regions.
Every restaurant listed in the Guide is entitled to display
a 2013 wall certificate, signed by Pat Chapman.
Mr Chapman founded the Curry Club in 1982, to share
information about recipes, restaurants and spicy foods.His network of reporters
led to the publication of the Good Curry Guides. Among its fans are broadcaster
Sir David Frost, 73. He said of the guide: "It tells you everything you
want to know about curry." And celebrity chef Delia Smith, 71, wrote:
"With it he has done the nation a real service.”
Publisher, The Curry Club, Haslemere, Surrey, GU27 2AP
ISBN: 978-10-9537735-3-4
RSP: £14.95
It can be ordered at all bookshops, or author-signed from
Pat Chapman's Curry Club at £14.95 plus £2.05 UK p&p.
Contact: Pat Chapman
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